Government breaches parliamentary convention by not responding to Lords committee report on social care

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has written to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock to urge the Government to respond to the Committee’s July 2019 report, Social care funding: time to end a national scandal.

The report found that the social care sector was severely underfunded and riddled with unfairness. It recommended the Government immediately spends £8 billion to restore social care to acceptable standards and then introduces free personal care over a period of five years.

In his letter to the Health Secretary, the Committee’s Chairman Lord Forsyth of Drumlean highlights the fact that the social care sector is currently on the frontline of the country’s coronavirus crisis.

Parliamentary convention states that the Government should respond to committee reports within two months – more than 11 months have elapsed since the publication of the Committee’s social care report.  

Click here to read Lord Forsyth’s letter. The report, Social care funding: time to end a national scandal, can be found here.